Fixing iron mordants on textile fibers.



UNIED ST PETER SCHMID, 0F BASEL, SWITZERLAND.

FIXING IRON MORDAN TS ON TEXTILE FIBERS.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PETER SGHMID, a citizen of the Swiss Republic, and resident of Basel, Switzerland, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Fixing Iron Mordants on Textile Fibers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

It is known that when dyeing silk in black, the nitrate of iron is fixed on the fiber by hot soap lye, after the silk fibers, in the form of raw silk, spun or floss silk, or silk tissue, have been passed several times through iron nitrate baths. For this purpose, the silk is agitated for one to three and a half hours in the hot soap lye. Since the process described in Letters Patent No. 848605 of 1905 for ungumming the silk. by means of soap lather has been introduced into silk dyeing practice, in some places the fixing of the iron mordant is effected by soap lather instead of soap lye, whereby there is a considerable saving in time, work and material.

In fixing the iron mordant with soap lye or with soap lather the soap used is from 20 to 40 per cent. of the weight of the silk.

Accordmg to the present invention, a considerable saving in the amount of soap is obtained by placing in the fixing bath silkworm chrysalides, or silk waste containing silkworm chrysalides, inclosed in bags, or by mixing with the bath the oily water obtained by the boiling out of silkworm chrysalides or silk residues containing silkworm chrysalides.

For example, in the upper part of a wooden or iron trough about 7 meters long, there are about 50 holders for the silk skeins. On the bottom of the trough there is a heat- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 20, 1917.

Application filed May 23, 1916. Serial No. 99,463.

ing coil. The lowest point of the skeins is about 60 centimeters above the bottom. Water is passed into the trough until the level is 25 to 30 centimeters above the bottom, the amount of water required being about 3000 liters. To this is added about 5 kilos of soap and about 25 kilos silkworm chrysalides. The lye is boiled and converted into lather and as such rises to the top of the trough and completely envelops the silk. This treatment is carried on for an hour or less. The same lye can be used for several operations by adding fresh soap and fresh water without adding fresh silkworm chrysalides.

Since the price of chrysalides is about half the price of soap, there is an important commercial advantage in the new fixing bath.

The proportion of soap to chrysalides can be varied as required even to the elimination of the soap altogether.

What I claim is:

1. An improved process for fixing the iron mordants on textile fibers, in which the fixing bath employed contains the oily water resulting from boiling silk worm chrysalides with water.

2. An improved process for fixing the iron mordants on textile fibers, in which the fixing bath employed contains the oily water resulting from boiling'with water silk wastes containing silkworm chrysalides.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name this 3rd day of May, 1916, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

PETER SGI-IMID. Witnesses:

ARNOLD ZUBER, AMAND BITTER.

copies of this patent may he obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

